The Deipnosophists; or, Banquet of the Learned of Athenæus, Vol. 1 (of 3)Athenaeus, of Naucratis
General
The Deipnosophists; or, Banquet of the Learned of Athenæus, Vol. 1 (of 3)
Athenaeus, of Naucratis
Civilization, Greco-Roman; Dinners and dining -- Greece; Greece -- Social life and customs; Homosexuality -- Greece
100. After this a cheesecake was served up, made of milk and sesame and
honey, which the Romans call libum. And Cynulcus said,--Fill yourself
now, O Ulpian, with your native Chthorodlapsus; a word which is not, I
swear by Ceres, used by any one of the ancient writers, unless, indeed,
it should chance to be found in those who have compiled histories of the
affairs of Phœnicia, such as Sanchoniatho and Mochus, your own
fellow-countrymen. And Ulpian said,--But it seems to me, you dog-fly,
that we have had quite enough of honey-cakes: but I should like to eat
some groats, with a sufficient admixture of the husks and kernels of
pine-cones. And when that dish was brought--Give me, said he, some crust
of bread hollowed out like a spoon; for I will not say, give me a spoon
(μύστρον); since that word is not used by any of the writers previous
to our own time. You have a very bad memory, my friend, quoth Æmilianus;
have you not always admired Nicander the Colophonian, the Epic poet, as
a man very fond of ancient authors, and a man too of very extensive
learning himself? And indeed, you have already quoted him as having used
the word πεπέριον, for _pepper_. And this same poet, in the first book
of his Georgics, speaking of this use of groats, has used also the word
μύστρον, saying--
But when you seek to dress a dainty dish
Of new-slain kid, or tender house-fed lamb,
Or poultry, take some unripe grains, and pound them,
And strew them all in hollow plates, and stir them,
Mingled with fragrant oil. Then pour thereon
Warm broth, which take from out the dish before you,
That it be not too hot, and so boil over.
Then put thereon a lid, for when they're roasted,
The grains swell mightily; then slowly eat them,
Putting them to your mouth with hollow spoon.
In these words, my fine fellow, Nicander describes to us the way in
which they ate groats and peeled barley; bidding the eater pour on it
soup made of kid or lamb, or of some poultry or other. Then, says he,
pound the grains in a mortar, and having mingled oil with them, stir
them up till they boil; and mix in the broth made after this recipe as
it gets warm, making it thicker with the spoon; and do not pour in
anything else; but take the broth out of the dish before you, so as to
guard against any of the more fatty parts boiling over. And it is for
this reason, too, that he charges us to keep it close while it is
boiling, by putting the lid on the dish; for that barley grains when
roasted or heated swell very much. And at last, when it is moderately
warm we are to eat it, taking it up in hollow spoons.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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